Dave Green Trio + Evan Parker - Raise Four

Raise Four is a unique document of music by double bassist Dave Green who has been a mainstay and leading figure on the European Jazz Scene for an incredible six decades; from adventures with childhood friend, Rolling Stones drummer, the late Charlie Watts, through to working with many of the greatest names at the very vanguard of the jazz movement on both sides of the Atlantic including Roland Kirk, Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Tracey, Don Rendell and Ian Carr, and Michael Garrick.

As a long time member of the Humphrey Lyttelton Band (1965 - 1983), whilst also working successfully on the improvised jazz scene with luminaries such as the late John Stevens and Lol Coxhill, Dave Green has defied categorisation seeing the essence of all styles of jazz music as the eclectic spark of creativity ‘in the moment’. This approach has borne fruits with his own musical projects, such as his band Fingers which featured Bruce Turner, Lol Coxhill and Michael Garrick with drummer Alan Jackson, to his trio of master improvisers Iain Dixon on reeds and drummer Gene Calderazzo.

With this release he has typically defied genre specifics whilst creating a set of music with his musical comrades which defines the very essence of Jazz Music.

RAISE FOUR, came about through an invitation by radio presenter and producer Jez Nelson to put a project together for BBC’s Jazz On 3. Typically, Dave went for the jugular pairing his Trio, featuring Dixon and Calderazzo, with the great improvising saxophonist Evan Parker. “This album captures a moment in time when my trio of Iain Dixon and Gene Calderazzo got together with the giant of improvised music Evan Parker.

“It was a very challenging prospect but ultimately very rewarding and an unforgettably joyful experience for me to make music with three great musicians playing together for the first time.”

Jazz in such hands is unlikely to create nothing less than the epitome of Jazz as an improvised music. The set of music draws from a purely improvised free performance through to the compositions of Thelonious Monk and an exquisite ballad by Billy Strayhorn. Although it would be hard to equate the music with anyone other than Dave Green, the music flows freely and inspiringly between all the participants achieving a musical conversation of the highest order.